Alex Valle says his Celtic goodbyes, as €6m summer price tag revealed | OneFootball

Alex Valle will have a medical today at Como ahead of a loan deal to the mid-table Serie A side. Brendan Rodgers yesterday confirmed that Valle had left Celtic and last night the player posted an emotional message on his social media channel thanking Celtic and the Celtic support…

Alex Valle. Dens Park, Dundee v Celtic. 14th January 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Alex Valle was back in Barcelona yesterday afternoon after bringing his season-long loan deal with Celtic to a pre-mature conclusion.

As we have reported previously Valle signed a one-year contract extension with Barcelona before heading to Celtic in the summer. This deal also included a ‘small’ buy-out clause which is around €6m at it appears that Como are prepared to pay this in the summer.

Fabrizio Romano explained yesterday via his social media accounts:

Alex Valle. Ross County v Celtic in Dingwall. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Changing circumstances at Celtic

Brendan Rodgers recently explained at a media conference attended by The Celtic Star, that part of his side of the deal in bringing Valle to Celtic as to commit to game-time for the player and that changing circumstances at Celtic meant that this would be limited for the remainder of the season. So Celtic were a party to this decision and did not have it forced upon them.

Yesterday at his media conference at Villa Park ahead of this evening’s Champions League match against Aston Villa, Brendan confirmed that Valle had left the club and won’t play again for the Hoops.

“Alex won’t play again, sadly”

The Celtic manager explained:  “Alex won’t play again, sadly. He’s in Barcelona now at the moment and he will probably then move on to another team.

“So, yes, again, another young player that’s contributed really well for us, played nearly 20 appearances for us, played in some very important games, made his Champions League debut. Especially in Atalanta, he was fantastic, played in really important games. So, we’re disappointed that he’s left, but we have to move on.”

Rodgers also confirmed for the first time that a pre-contract agreement with Kieran Tierney was now in place and that the club would like to bring KT in on loan until the end of the season, with talks between the club still ongoing. If that doesn’t happen it looks like Greg Taylor will play with back-up from Liam Scales and Adam Montgomery who has been training with the first team.

Alex Valle competes for the ball with Marten De Roon during the UEFA Champions League match between Atalanta BC and Celtic FC at Stadio di Bergamo on October 23, 2024. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Alex Valle meanwhile said his own goodbyes to Celtic last night via a post on Instagram.

🔗 Instagram

It’s clear that Alex Valle would have been a viable signing option for Celtic but with Kieran Tierney returning to the club now confirmed the chances of first team football would have been reduced significantly. It probably mirrors Greg Taylor’s position in that he has been the first pick Celtic left-back for five years basically and doesn’t fancy doing the Tony Ralston role on the other side of the pitch.

Yet with Tierney’s fitness concerns always a factor it would make sense to rotate the two and surely Brendan can sell this idea to Taylor, who is out of contract in the summer. Hopefully he signs on.

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